Look for the Punks This Weekend, New York’s Alright 2014 Gets Underway Thursday

April 17, 2014

Crazy Spirit at 285 Kent during New York's Alright 2013.Courtesy of New York's Alright. Photo by Tod Seelie

For the second year running, and this year maybe to fill the void left by the now-finished Chaos in Tejas festival in Austin, the New York’s Alright punk/hardcore festival has attracted in punks from all over to New York. From Thursday through Sunday, various spots throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan will be drenched in feedback, d-beats, leather, bristles, studs and acne.*

The big draw to fests of these sorts is the appearance of international bands and rare-ish appearances or reunions. This year, New York’s Alright has both: Bands from Sweden, Japan and England round-out the overseas offerings; while NYC’s Crazy Spirit are due to perform for the first time in a while, and non-touring Cleveland maniacs Inmates are set to play. (Odds of fireworks going off during the band’s set are still being set.)

“Over the past five years, New York City has become the epicenter of underground hardcore of the world and New York’s Alright is an international celebration of that,” says Adam Whites, an organizer of the festival, in a press release.

Reed Dunlea, the festival’s other organizer, says “the amount of bands making great punk music in New York right now is insane. We understand that people who are not a part of this culture think punk is dead, which is great for us because we get to build a scene of extremely talented people without dealing with the typical Brooklyn no-talent, no-values, no-substance nonsense. New York’s Alright is when we showcase that scene, and bring the best DIY bands from near and far to hang out for a weekend in the greatest city in the world.”